E-mail (Dated: 4/20/2014)

This week has definitely been good! But also full of new and different ways of doing things! This week as you all know was Easter weekend, but this means Easter week for Tonga..... So on a normal Sunday in Tonga, every shop/store is required to be closed!!!! So everyone in Tonga is amazing at keeping the Sabbath day holy!!! WOW, its going to be hard for me to come back to america and see that people go shopping and go out to play on a Sunday!!!! I thought that maybe it would be kinda normal for me just because I'm from Utah, but that's not the case!!! I have learned a lot from the Tongan culture when it comes to respect, its something that I will cherish the rest of my life. I'm excited to see the types of impacts that it can have on my future family. But as the Easter week here in Tonga, its pretty much against the law to do work or to buy anything hahaha so it was actually quite difficult for us missionaries to go door to door this week. So we spent a lot of the time getting members more evolved in missionary work and spending more time seeing what we could do for other member families and for less active families.We actually were able to catch both of our bishops this week and spend some time talking with them about the ward and figuring out things we could do to help the ward grow stronger in missionary work. In one of our wards because of this we are now doing a musical fireside monthly, at these fire sides we will have 3 speakers and in-between each talk we will sing, at the end the inactive members will say in the chapel and listen to a lesson from the bishop and the new investigators that came will go in a different room and listen to the missionaries teach and then at the end we all come back together for closing hymns and of course food at the end:) It's actually quite amazing to see what kinda things can happen when you become friends with your bishop and your members! We just started teaching a new boy yesterday!! He is 16 he has a desire to listen and to keep commitments. His best friend is actually the one that invited him to listen to us, after following the counsel of Elder Ballard in conference!!! Wow what an amazing missionary this kid will be!!! What amazing counsel we have been given by such inspired leaders of our church!!!!!

Also if you can all remember from the Other Side of Heaven, the book or the movie. Elder Groberg talks about the Tongan funerals and how all the work stops that week for them and they all morn and wear black.... there were 2 deaths in our village this week, so it has been quite crazy with how many people have come to our town to attend these funerals all week. Its kinda sad, they really just focus on the food at those things hahaha. My comp is begging me to ask our bishop if we can speak at it..... but we will probably just be attending. Tonga is beautiful as ever right now, its just beginning to be a little cooler, probably still in the 80s...... but its beautiful!

love you all!!!!

mom "dude"

Blake and Brook, continue being your best!!!!!!! ( Remember as a missionary you are doing the Lord's work, you have the right to ask for his help!!! )